You’re coming home late on a Friday night to find a line wrapping around your dorm. You check your watch — it’s a quarter to midnight — and curse under your breath as you fumble around in your pockets for your residence hall late night check-in card.

Is it necessary and, in actuality, is it effective?

Yes, said Blanche McHugh, assistant director of Student Housing and Dining Services.

“The security system that was designed for our residence halls is recommended by the American Association of Higher Education,” McHugh said.

But students say that the system is far from fool-proof.

“I’ve snuck past it,” said Amber Earls, a freshman undecided liberal arts and sciences major. “I just walked past, she didn’t even ask — there were too many people.”

Kara Niehaus, a freshman psychology major, said that while the process of checking people in after hours is good for security, there are still loopholes in the system.

“I understand why they check people in, but when there are easy ways to get around the security, then it really serves no purpose,” Niehaus said.

If a resident enters one of NIU’s five halls with a guest before 11 p.m., there is no record of who is in the building and who they came in with, unless they register at the front desk.

According to the NIU Guidepost, a handbook given to all dorm residents, guests who enter or stay in the halls after 11 p.m. are required to check in at the front desk.

“You the resident are responsible for your guest while they are here,” McHugh said. “If you come in at 10:45 p.m. and stay past 11 p.m., you need to be registered.”

So why have a check-in process at all if people can, but aren’t supposed to, bring guests to their room and not register at the front desk?

“If they’re in there before 11 p.m., there are things for people to do,” said Alex Underwood, president of the Residence Hall Association. “At that point, meaning 11 p.m., there’s nothing left to do, so it becomes completely residential.”

When a student wants to check in a guest, the guest must trade in his or her I.D. card for a dorm guest card.

McHugh said the process was implemented because if a host doesn’t escort his guest back to the front desk, the guest is then given free reign and can leave without checking out. This leaves the host with a $50 charge for the lost card that’s issued when guests are checked in.

“If they’re going to do it [check people in after-hours], they should do it all day because what’s the difference between 2 p.m. in the afternoon and 11 p.m. at night?” said Jennifer Nixon, a freshman business management major.

Michael Coakley, executive director of Student Housing and Dining Services, said the check-in program is still being fine-tuned to meet students’ needs.

“I think it’s more effective than not doing anything,” Coakley said. “Whether it’s the most effective process, we keep refining that. Residents have to take responsibility for upholding their end of it, too, that means escorting their guests, signing them in, not blocking doors, stuff like that.”

While the after-hours check-in program may have a few glitches, administrators say resident safety is of utmost importance.

“If it comes to convenience or safety, we will always go for safety,” McHugh said.